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Omitted voters in Gujarat much lower

Omitted voters in Gujarat much lower

Author: Bharti Jain
Publication: The Economic Times
Dated: November 21, 2007

[Note from the Hindu Vivek Kendra: Will these 'secularists' now stop hounding Gujarat deliberately spreading lies? And will they devote the same energy in other areas where there is merit? I doubt it. It would not suit their destructive agenda.]

The 'guardians of minority rights' in Gujarat may cry themselves hoarse over the alleged "omission" of over 2,000 Muslim voters from the state's electoral rolls, but a correction drive undertaken by the Election Commission earlier this month saw only 440 persons coming forward to have their names included in the voters' list.

The EC was acting on a specific complaint by Citizens for Peace and Justice activist Teesta Setalvad in late October alleging large-scale exclusion of Muslim voters in the Shahpur assembly segment constituency in Ahmedabad. Though the complaint in itself did not put down the number of these "omitted" voters, the complainants orally put the figure at 1,300-1,400. Other reports estimated it at 2,000, alleging that the names of minority community voters had been deliberately kept out of the rolls for the Muslim-dominated Shahpur by a "pro-Modi administration".

Though the Commission was convinced with the explanation by the state administration that it had deleted the names only after due enquiry and filing of panchnamas and underlying papers, it nevertheless agreed to invite objections regarding the "missing" names in an on-the-spot rolls revision exercise. Having set November 3 and 4 as the two days when the omitted voters could approach the authorities to seek inclusion in the voters' list, all that the Commission got were 440 visitors. Of these, around 400 were accommodated in the rolls after the requisite verification. These were mainly found to be voters who were not present at the relevant address during enumeration.

The claims of the remaining 30-40 voters could not be entertained as their credentials were not verifiable or were underage.

That the EC's rolls revision exercise was fair is best borne by the fact that the Citizens for Peace and Justice itself has conveyed to the Commission its "satisfaction" over the verification exercise taken by the EC and its efforts to remove any anomalies in the electoral rolls.

"There has not been a single deletion by the authorities suo motu...for every claim accepted or rejected, there is a supporting panchnama or underlying paper," a senior EC official told ET. In any case, the official added, on an average, there is 9-10% change in names included in the electoral rolls on account of migration (6-8%), death (1%) and attaining of voting age (2%).

Going by the Commission's own admission, Gujarat this time ranks on par with West Bengal regarding accuracy in electoral paperwork ahead of the election, leaving states like UP and Bihar far behind.

As for the faulty EPICs issued to some of the voters, the EC explains that this is not deliberate and the information on the I-cards would be corrected as and when an objection is received. Even the allegation that the omissions were deliberately done to keep out Muslim voters, an official pointed out that the complainants had mostly examined segments dominated by the minority community, raising the likelihood of the missing voter being a Muslim.


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